{"id":3382,"date":"2020-05-17T10:17:09","date_gmt":"2020-05-17T17:17:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.k6bj.org\/?p=3382"},"modified":"2020-08-12T21:57:03","modified_gmt":"2020-08-13T04:57:03","slug":"a-modest-proposal-for-the-next-extra-class-question-pool","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/k6bj.org\/wordpress\/archives\/3382","title":{"rendered":"A modest proposal (for the next Extra Class question pool)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A modest proposal (for <\/strong>the next Extra Class question pool)<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

By Dan Romanchik, KB6NU<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 At our last club meeting, I was discussing the changes to the Extra Class question pool with someone, and the topic of memorizing the answers popped up. As I always do, I mentioned that many of the questions you can only get right by memorizing the answer. At that point, someone down the way piped up. \u201cNot me,\u201d he said, \u201cI studied the material so that I didn\u2019t have to memorize the answers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At that point, the president called the meeting to order, so I didn\u2019t get to challenge him on that point, but that statement is just plain wrong. First of all, it\u2019s true that some questions you can only get right by memorizing the answer. Almost all of the rules questions are that way, for example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Secondly, there is no way to study the rest of the material in any depth and still have time to actually be an amateur radio operator. The amount of material that the Extra Class question pool covers takes an electrical engineering student four years or more to study thoroughly. And even then, some topics are bound to get short shrift.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, we\u2019re back to memorizing. I would say that even an \u201cengaged\u201d person will memorize about half the answers. I\u2019d go even further and say that those that \u201cstudy\u201d the technical topics, don\u2019t study it as thoroughly as a college student would.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, there are a dozen questions in Section E7G \u2013 Active filters and op-amp circuits: active audio filters; characteristics; basic circuit design; operational amplifiers. Despite the name, you don\u2019t need to know how to design or build an op-amp filter. All you really need to know is that op-amps are high gain devices and if you have a circuit like the one shown below, Vout\/Vin = RF\/R1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These concepts are relatively easy to learn. but there are also two questions on filter \u201cringing.\u201d Honestly, you\u2019re better off just memorizing the answers to those questions unless you have a real interest in active filters that use op amps. Wading into the mathematics isn\u2019t all that hard, but when you consider this is only one of dozens of topics, you can see where doing any kind of in-depth study is going to take you months, if not years, to accomplish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A modest proposal<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The end result of this approach to testing is that we have many Extra Class licensees who know about a lot of things, but not in very much depth. Perhaps that\u2019s OK. Perhaps that\u2019s just what the question pool committee of the National Council of Volunteer Examiner Coordinators (NCVEC) was shooting for. If, however, we want an Extra Class license to denote that the licensee has some real technical expertise, I have a modest proposal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Basically, my idea is that instead of testing on an incredibly wide range of topics, we test applicants on a set of basics, plus one or two particular topics. These would be topics that the person has expertise in already or enough of an interest in to study the topic in some depth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Below are the topics that I would consider to be basic and some that I consider to be more specialized. This is, of course, not an extensive list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n